Railway-tie.



A., R I

RAILW IE.

PLIOATIOH FILED Patented May 19, 1914.

sans r ANDREW STARK, QF CHICAGO, ILLIENOS.

RAILWAY-TIE.

To @ZZ fr0/wm t may concern Be it known that l, ANDREW STARK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of illinois, have invented new and useful linprovements in Railway-Ties, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to means for reinforcing railway ties against the crushing strains caused by the load of the rails, and also against the frictional wear which results from the slight longitudinal movement of the rails over the ties as they contract or expand with variations of temperature.

rllhe invention consists in certain of the features shown in the drawings and hereinafter described as particularly indicated by the claims.

ln the drawings :nlligure l is a top plan View of a railway tie fitted with reinforcing means in accordance with this invention, lsaid means being disposed at the rail seats of the tie, and the position of the rails being indicated in dotted lines. Fig. 2 is avertical section of a tie taken as indicated at line 2M?. on Fig. l, showing the reinforcement applied to a wooden tie. Fig. 3 is a vertical section similar to Fig. 2 but showing the reinforcement applied to a concrete tie. lig. 4 is a vertical section of a concrete tie taken through a wooden cushion block lodged thereon and provided with reinforcing means in accordance with this invention. Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail view of the reinforcing device. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a inodied form of reinforcing device. Fig. is a sectional detail view taken similarly to Fig. 2 and illustrating the use of the elements, B, for leveling up the rail-bearing surface of the tie.

As is well known, the ordinary wooden tie employed in railroad work is not capable of long withstanding the heavy crushing strain imposed upon it by the present heavy types of rails and rolling stock if the rails are laid directly on the tie. 'lo overcome this difficulty it is now common practice to employ tie plates of metal which are placed between the rail base and the top surface of the tie, and whose area is considerably greater than the area of the tie covered by the rail base alone, so that the crushing strains imparted to the tie through the rail are dis- Speccaton of Letters Patent.

Application filed IDecember 1, 1913.

Patented May i9, 1914.

serial no. 803,906.

tributed by the metal tie plate over an enlarged area. rlhis method of reinforcement is costly and not altogether satisfactory.

Vvhere tie plates are not used there is not only a strong tendency for the tie to be crushed by the load, but the constant though slight longitudinal shifting of the rail over the tie, due to temperature changes and other causes, rapidly splinters and frays the surface of the vood so that the rail gradually saws its way into the tie, even though the crushing strains imposed by the weight of the rolling stock are not excessive. l/Vhere concrete ties are in use it has been found practically impossible to lodge the rails directly upon the concrete surface because of the pulverizing action of this constant shifting of the rails; and for this reason wooden cushion blocks are usually inserted between the concrete tie and the rail. But, the wooden cushion blocks are affected much as are the wooden ties by the crushing and shifting action, and they must in turn be reinforced by tie plates or else be very frequently renewed in order to keep the track in satisfactory condition.

By the present invention a wooden tie is reinforced at its rail-seating portion by driving into the wood a number of metal reinforcements, A, which may be quite similar in appearance to common wire nails. As indicated in l these reinforcements, A, are distributed with approximate uniformity over the rail supporting surface of the tie, l, and Fig. 2 shows that the heads, A, are not driven quite down to the surface of the tie. lt has been found by experiment that with a su'llicient number of these reinforcing nails or studs located as described the aggregate frictional resistance encountered in attempting to force them all at once farther into the tie is sufficient t0 support a load equal to, or somewhat greater than that which would ordinarily cause a l permanent depression in the unarmored surface of a similar tie; and within the railseating area of the standard tie a number of reinforcing spikes, A, may be uniformly distributed sufficient to withstand the eX- pected maximum load for which the tracks are now designed.. without being driven any deeper into the tie, so that in ordinary use they would continue to stand with their heads, Ail, in a plane slightly above the surface of the tie itself.

fao

If preferred, the several rows of nails, A, may be set into the tie along slight diverging directions so as to distribute the load over a somewhat larger area of the tie. This arrangement is shown in Fig. 2. Preferably the nails which are designed for this use are coated in a manner to increase their frictional hold' upon the material of the tie, being made at the same time as smooth as possible so as to cause the least possible breakage of the wood fiber when they are inserted. Thus the insertion of the nails tends to densify the wood at the rail-seat which by reason of its natural elasticity thus increases its frictional hold upon the nails themselves.

Where concrete ties, C, are used with wooden cushion blocks, D, supporting the rails the life of such blocks may be in-v definitely increased by armoring them in the manner above described for wooden ties, that is, by inserting in their rail-supporting surfaces a considerable number of reinforcing nails, A, as indicated in Fig. t.

In both the above mentioned uses of the reinforcing nails, A, it will be noted that the rail is supported entirely out of lcontact with the wood so that the former tendency of the woodl to become splintered or frayed from the rubbing action of the shifting rail is entirely obviated, and this wear comes directly upon the metal heads, A1, of the nails, A, which are much better adapted to withstand it. To serve this latter purpose the nails may be originally molded in concrete ties as indicated in Fig. 3, andv when thus reinforced the concrete ties may be used without wooden cushion blocks, since the presence of the nail heads, A1,. will prevent contact between the rail flange, E, and the concrete surface,l and will thus prevent the pulverizing of the concretel by the shifting of the rail. For this use the multiple pronged form of rail support, Ax, shown in Fig. 6, may be' employed, and by reason of its form will tend to distribute to the concrete the lateral strains due to frictional engagement of the rail with its head portion, AY, better than the simple nail form. To prevent the under surface of the rail flange becoming caught or snagged by the rail heads by this rubbing movement over them, the heads are preferably beveled or otherwise inclined away from the rail surface at their peripheries, as indicated in the detail view of Fig. 5, and to more perfectly unify the head with the body portion of the nail it should be formed with a fillet, A2, at the junction of these portions as shown.

Especially in the use of the wooden ties there isdifliculty in obtaining ties whose upper surface is a perfect plane, since even if the surface is originally sawed true it may develop a twist or wind as the tie becomes seasoned. The present invention is particularly well adapted to compensate for the inaccuracies thus introduced, since the two groups of rail-supporting elements at the two rail seats of the common form of cross tie may be inserted with their upper ends or heads all in the same plane, thus presenting a perfectly true rail-supporting surface, while the actual surface of the tie may be considerably out of parallel with the rail seats thus formed, as indicated in Fig. 7.

I claim:-

l. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of reinforcing elements of rounded cross section embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie.

2. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of metallic re-inforcing elements of rounded cross section embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie.

3. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of re-inforcing elements embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie with their rail-supporting portions projecting slightly from the surface thereof.

4. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of headed re-inforcing elements embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie, with the rail-supporting surfaces of their heads disposed in a plane slightly above the surface of the tie.

5. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of nails set in the material at the rail seat of the tie with their heads positioned to support the rail.

6. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of headed re-inforcing elements embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie, with the rail-supporting surfaces of their heads disposed in a plane slightly above the surface of the tie, said rail-supporting surfaces of the heads being peripherally inclined away from the rail.

7. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of headed re-inforcing elements embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie, with the under surfaces of their heads spaced away from the upper surface of said material.

8. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of headed re-inforcing elements. embedded upstanding in the material at the rail seat of the tie, said elements being formed with fillets at the junction of their heads with the body portions.

9. In a railway tie, a multiplicity of railsupporting re-inforcing elements set in the material at the rail seat of the tie, with their upper ends positioned to support the rail and with their lower ends directed divergently downward therefrom for distributing the load within the tie.

l0. In combination with a railway tie having rail seats for two rails, a multiplicity of reinforcing elements embedded upstanding in the material at each of said rail seats of my hand at Chicago, Illinois, this 29th day the tie, With their upper ends projecting of November, 1918. slivhtly from the surface of seid material sai upper ends of the re-inforeing elements7 ANDREW STARK' 5 at both rail seats being disposed in the same Witnesses:

plane. Roer. N. BURTON,

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set EDNA M. MACINTOSH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatentl, Washington, 1D. C. 

